Ofcom green-lights BT's ultra-fast broadband

Serving over 10 million UK homes at speeds of up to 100Mbps

Shares

BT gets the go-ahead from Ofcom this week to build a new ultra-fast broadband network set to serve over 10 million UK homes.

"After intense negotiations over the past few weeks, Ofcom will propose a new set of rules on Tuesday that will include a change in the way that BT's networks business Openreach operates so it can start delivering broadband speeds up to 20 times faster than the current average," reads a report in The Observer.

BT is set to construct the new fibre-optic network over the next three years, which will also be made available to its rivals, although Ofcom's regulations will still enable BT to profit from its huge £1.5bn investment.

Virgin upgrades customers

BT's rival Virgin Media is already offering super-fast 50Mb per second broadband to selected customers and claimed earlier last month that it will offer a free upgrade to 2.6 million of its current customers to 10Mbps this coming May.

The Observer notes that Virgin's network, "is closed to rival firms, although Lord Carter has made it plain that in the long run he expects it to be opened."

BT's planned super-fast fibre optic cabling is set to offer customers broadband speeds of up to 100Mb per second.